Updated scientific rules for the social media age could set a global trend, with supervision neglect and management cover-ups also in the frame
The Swiss are to be congratulated for this expansion of the definition of research misconduct and taking serious action in relation to harassment in research. This is a move other countries should follow. You can’t be a research superstar if you habitually cite yourself, or are a harasser or bully.
Switzerland’s new rules are seen as groundbreaking as they drastically expand the definition of scientific misconduct to include dubious behaviour that has attracted increasing scrutiny but up to now has rarely been covered by official rules.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time that a code of conduct is expanded by a prestigious academic organisation to include several additional dimensions of how scientific work is done, credited, recognised, cited and appropriated,” said John Ioannidis, an expert on the process of research at Stanford University who has raised the alert over extreme self-citation by scientists.
